The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State says it will not rush to congratulate Governor Ademola Adeleke on his victory in the August 15 governorship election, insisting that it is still examining the conduct and results of the poll.
The party’s position was disclosed by its Director-General for the governorship campaign, Oluwole Oke, during an interview with Arise News on Monday.
Oke said the campaign organisation had begun a detailed review of the election and would decide its next move after scrutinising the available records.
He said the position of President Bola Tinubu, who congratulated Adeleke after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him the winner, should not be confused with that of the APC campaign team.
According to him, the campaign team was directly involved in the election and was therefore conducting its own assessment of what transpired.
“And like I’ve told you that what we are doing, even for future, for records, is to conduct a thorough review of the entire process and then form our opinion,” he said.
Oke added, “We won’t be under any sort of pressure to easily reach out to congratulate Senator Ademola Adeleke.”
He further said the APC was not accepting INEC’s declaration at this stage.
“We do not agree with the declaration of INEC. That’s our position for now. We believe he did not score the highest valid votes,” Oke said.
INEC declared Adeleke the winner after he secured 511,067 votes, ahead of APC candidate Bola Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes. The ADC candidate, Najeem Salaam, finished third with 17,180 votes.
Adeleke won 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas, while Oyebamiji prevailed in 11. The margin between the two leading candidates was 66,252 votes.
After his declaration as winner, Adeleke said he expected Oyebamiji to contact him and offer congratulations, describing it as the “civilised thing to do”.
The APC campaign team, however, said it would first complete its examination of the election before deciding whether to respond.
“When you have a project of this nature with the outcome announced by INEC, we will not be in a haste, nor shall we be under pressure without doing the needful,” Oke said.
He disclosed that the party had instructed its polling agents to submit copies of the relevant electoral documents for verification.
“We have embarked on an audit process. We have asked all our party agents to submit copies of Forms EC8A, B, and C to our secretariat for review. We need to inspect the materials,” he said.
The APC Director of Media and Information, Kola Olabisi, also said the party was still analysing results from all 332 wards in the state.
The party maintained that the electoral process could extend beyond the announcement of results, noting that an election was “a process that continues through the tribunal, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court”.
It said it would consult its legal team and consider all available legal options under the Electoral Act if its review uncovered irregularities.
Oke said the review would cover not only election-day events but also developments before the poll and whether they complied with the Electoral Act and other relevant laws.
“Until we do that and form our opinion, we won’t be able to go further to say anything on this,” he said.
The APC campaign chief also criticised the Adeleke administration, particularly its performance in education, healthcare and support for farmers.
He said, “When you look at this in totality, you can see the failures of government glaring in the citizens’ faces.”
Oke appealed for patience, saying the APC needed sufficient time to complete its assessment before announcing its next course of action.
